Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) COBRA Strategic Communications Campaign

Overview

Many people across the nation were unaware of the insurance benefits they could receive through COBRA, an issue exacerbated by job cuts and hour reductions during the COVID-19 pandemic. To raise awareness about COBRA insurance benefits and to increase enrollment, EBSA contracted with CMRignite to develop and launch a culturally relevant campaign that engaged vulnerable audiences who either recently lost their jobs or had their hours reduced. This project provided education and information to the most relevant national audiences on COBRA insurance benefits and other available EBSA resources. 

Services Provided

Strategic Planning, Brand Consulting, Media Planning & Buying, Creative Development, Digital & Social Media, Public & Media Relations, Web Design, Campaign Evaluation

Our Solution

Our strategy included conducting valuable audience research to find out what people thought about EBSA and COBRA insurance benefits. We used that information to design an efficient and effective campaign attuned to the audience’s specific communication needs. Instead of a “shotgun” approach targeting all Americans, we targeted the people who needed these benefits the most. We then determined the channels that were best to use for those audiences, implementing a data-driven strategy that allowed our creativity to shine through newly branded graphics, advertisements, social media posts, and creative messaging. Our campaign generated metrics 2-3 times higher than the industry averages for each of our channel distributions, respectively. For example, our click-through rates (CTR) for several of the key ads generated .20% CTR, whereas the standard is .10%. Additionally, our Facebook and Instagram posts performed at 5.29% CTR, where the standard is 0.89%. Due to these metrics, we know the campaign was delivering the right message to the right people in the right places.